Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128619
F IM W o r ld Cha m p ions h ip MX S e r ie s R o u n d 7 : Tibro MotorstadiorvCircuit L e sTonne s Corona Extra Suzuki's Mickael Pichon won the f irst 250cc moto at the French GP but couldn't repeat that perfonnance In the second. He still took have Pichon slam the door c losed - runner-up ho nors. Demaria , Coppins, C laudio F ederic i , Crockard, Peter Iv en, Pa tri ck Pag et eig h t h in th e ov erall pla c - this was GP racing at its best. Sure en o ug h , j ust as he has done so often t h is y ea r , Pich on t o o k th e win , fo ll o we d by Bolley , Be irer, Yves ings a nd lose ser io us points a nd Collin Dugmore. Bolley , though , was n ot a bo ut to to Pich on and Bolley in th e hand the Fren ch event to h is bitter c h am p io ns h ip ra ce . rival. " I h urt my wrist in prac - M oto two , and this time Beirer led tice yesterday ," Beirer said . ear ly to o n ly see both Boll ey and " W h en Bolley came to m e in Picho n move p ast. Again , i t was the first m o to I knew I had b e t w e e n these two , as Bolle y won ahead of Pic h o n , Copp ins , Demaria to let him go. In the se cond moto , I had a nice lead but then th e b ike sta rted pla y ing and Federici. For Boll ey it was the overa ll and Pi chon the satisfactio n up , th e g ears were not that his champ ionsh ip po ints l ead w ork ing c or rectly , then it h ad not c ha nged. Wit h t h e championsh ip at the just stopped . My champ i o n sh ip is o v er and I'm disappointed about t h at ." Wh en Sunda y 's ra c ing ca m e around , it was quickly apparent that th e pres sure w as on Pichon and Boll ey to win th eir h ome GP . Both ride r s hav e d ominat ed this y e ar' s c ha m p io nsh i p , with Boll ey w in n in g Grands Pri x in Hollan d and Belgium a nd Pi ch on d oing the sam e in Portuga l, Italy and th e Cze ch Republi c , only Ireland's Gordan Cro ckard has be en ab le to st o p a c o m p let e F ren ch m onopol y w ith his Spanish GP v ic tory: So when Pichon and Bol - BRIEFLY••• The FOllhills 500cc GP will. in fact. be replaced by a race at Kester. Belgium. on July 2. Effectively. Kester becomes a double-header. as the Belgian 250cc GP was already scheduled for this weekend at the track. Entries will apparently be open to all. as a closing date of June 24. the day before the French GP. has been set. Most 500cc stars were already committed to riding at ley enter ed the last l aps of th e ope ni n g m oto i n B rou, F ran ce, it was n o s u r p r ise th at horns a nd French fl ags lined the tr ack . Pichon , who had led the moto , wa s doing h is best t o bl o ck an oncoming Bolley . For two l a p s, th e Frenchmen raced side by side , B olley ta king the le ad, o n ly t o halfway point, Pichon lead s with 249 points, fo llowed by Bolley with 2 17 and Bei rer a d istant third w ith 159 . Les f unnes Circuit Brou, France Results: June l Z, ZOOO [Round 7 of 151 M.OTO 1: 1. Mickael Pich on (Suz); 2. Frederic Bolley (Hon) ; 3. Pit Beir er (Kaw ); 4. Yves Demaria (Yam) ; 5. J osh Copp ins (Suz); 6. Claudio Federi ci ( Yam); 7 . Gorda n Croc ka rd (H on ) ; 8. Peter Iven (Kaw) ; 9 . Patri ck Paget (Hon ); 10. Colli n Dugm ore (KTM); I I. Paul Cooper (Husky); 12. Mickal Kad lecek (Su z); 13. Serge Guid ett y (Hon) ; 14 . Danny Th eyb ers ( KT M) ; 15 . Th ierry Beth ys ( Hon) M.OTQ 2 : 1. Fr ederi c Belle y ( Hon); 2 . Mic kae l Pichon (Suz); 3. J osh Coppins (Suz) ; 4 . Paul Cooper (Husky) ; 5. Yves Demari a (Yam); 6. Claudio Federici (Yam ); 7. Peter lven (x aw) : 8. Serge Guidett y (Hon); 9. A lex Zanni (Yam) ; to. J oak im Elia sson (Yam) ; 11. T hierry Bethys (Hen ): 12. Collin Dugmore (KTM); 13. Jussi Vehi lei nen (Hon) ; 14 . Mic ka l Kadlecek (Sua): 15. Jir i Cepelak (Yam ); O/A: 1. Frederic Boll ey (Han); 2. Mickae l Pic hon (Suz) ; 3 . J o sh Copp i n s (S uz) ; 4 . Yves Dem aria (Ya m) ; 5. Clau dio Federi ci (Yam ); 6 . Paul Cooper (Husky) ; 7. Peter Iven (Kaw); 8. Pit Beirer (Kaw ); 9. Serge Guidetty (Han); 10. Colli n Dugm ore (KTM) FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 250cc MX SERIES POINT STANDING S (After 7 of t5 rounds): 1. Mi c ka el Pic hon (24 9 / 3 wi ns) ; 2. Fr ed eri c Bo ll ey (217 3. Pit Beirer (159): 4. Josh Coppins (143): /3); 5. Claudio Federi ci (126) ; 6. Paul Coope r (1 13); 7. Gord an Crockard (95 /1); 8 . Yves Dem aria (9 4 ); 9. Peter Iven (71) ; 10. Mickael Maschio (67) ; 11. Ryan Hugh es (52); 12. Dann y Th eybers (49) ; 13. Colli n D ug m or e ( 4 8) ; 14 . Alex Za nni ( 4 0) ; 15 . A l ex Belometti(37) Upcoming rounds: Round 8 - Lucenec, Slovak Rep, June 25 Round 9 - Kester, Belgium, July 2 Kest er in an Internatio nal even t anyway. because the pro mo ters we re wo rried tha t the 250cc class. lacking any tr ue Belgian stars , would not draw a big crowd. The addition of this race now means that there will be four 500cc GPs in Belgium this year Francorchamps. Kester. Grobbendonk and Namur - as well as the Valkenswaard and Luxem- . bourg Triples just a few miles over the border. This prompted Marnicq Bervoets to say. "There are too many GPs in Belgium. The National Championship is as good as dead now. No spectator s come any more because they have no money left after paying fo r the Triples , and no sponso rs are interested eit her. .. Rumors that Culham could be a double-header with the addition of a 250cc GP were nothing more than wild speculation. This was the only free GP date for the class but the bikes of the leading contenders will already be on the way to Brazil for the following weekend's GP. Action Group has confirmed that the Foxhills 250cc round will not be replaced. The seco nd operation on Ste fa n Everts ' forearm and wrist has been successful. The plast er was removed last Monday and he has been given the "all clear" to begin rebuilding the muscles in his upper body. He hopes to get the "okay" to start riding a bike again next week. A return to race action in late July is his goal. Pa u l Malin will also begin riding again next week following his back operation in March. There were no German-speaking riders in Sweden. Only Erwin Macht linger had intended to travel after Francorchamps . but instead he returned to Austria for an operation on his troubleso me wrist . Ismo Vehkonen . cousin of former World champ Pekka Vehkonen. returned to GP action on a KTM at Tibro. Now 3 1 year of age. he hopes to ride a few central European GPs also later in the summe r. Ph ilippe D u pasquier is now riding directly for the TM factory. after TM and the Bonetta team decided to part company. 42 JUNE 28 , 2000' cue I e n e vv s eN Pichon's teammate Josh Coppins took third overall.